


Return to Save Point

by captain_starcat



Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (TV)
Genre: Gen, brief mention of tentacled horrors, excessive footnotes on the 4th dimension, non-permanent major character death, slightly dark but not actually, unexplained sci-fi universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-11 03:35:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5612428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_starcat/pseuds/captain_starcat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Stop dying before I can get there!" he yelled at his partner.</p><p>[Set in a slightly sideways universe, where UNCLE's purview includes 'extra-dimensional horrors' alongside 'international politics' and 'THRUSH']</p><p>[ft. some major character death of a non-permanent variety]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Return to Save Point

**Author's Note:**

> ft. also MASSIVE FOOTNOTES on VARIOUS TOPICS, such as: THE 4TH DIMENSION, and THE HELL IS THIS THING

Illya Kuryakin checked the dashboard clock of the nondescript sedan currently serving as his surveillance vehicle. 2:37 PM, which meant he still had at least a quarter of an hour before his mark left the building across the street for a 3:30 appointment. He was parked in the West 70's next to Central Park, had been on shift five utterly uneventful hours so far, and the remainder of his latest coffee was stone cold. He drained it anyway, as it was decently warm outside the car and he needed the caffeine. Desperately.

He tossed the empty cup on the seat next to him and sat back, sighing a sigh of pure boredom. These low-level, make-work missions Waverly sometimes sent them on between larger assignments frustrated Illya immensely, not least because none of them were worth sending two experienced agents on. Having Napoleon here would make this tedious assignment bearable at least, if no more challenging. Napoleon was on his own rookie mission somewhere in the city as well, probably having slightly more fun than Illya, but only because Illya was pretty sure his partner wasn't stuck with surveillance.

He glanced at the clock again; 2:44 now. Illya sighed again, louder, and started mentally compiling everything he knew about their upcoming mission, their next _real_ mission, as he considered it-- Whispers of an assassination attempt, threats to destabilize the regime--

\--And that was when the earpiece of his implant beeped once, and the pleasant mechanical voice said, "Reset in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1--" and he heard the faint whine of the tiny explosive charge at the base of his skull powering up, enough to kill him instantly, and--

 

Blackness. Nothing.

 

And then--

Illya Kuryakin checked the dashboard clock of the nondescript sedan currently serving as his surveillance vehicle. 2:37 PM. He grabbed his cold coffee from the cup holder, drained it, tossed the empty cup on the empty seat beside him, and tapped the earpiece of his implant with more force than was strictly necessary.

"What the hell was that?"

"Ah, sorry about that-- We just had a rip in the Garment District."

"You're not funny, Napoleon. What happened?"

"Class-F Dimensional Breach, somewhere over 8th Avenue by 35th. I was making a delivery in the area, and a building came down on my head." His tone said he was pouting about it.

"Well, I would be annoyed at the sudden Reset out of the blue, but you interrupted a very boring stakeout on my part. Let me call in for a replacement and I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Much appreciated, partner. Solo out."

Illya tapped the earpiece again to close the connection, screeched the car away from the curb and into traffic, pulling his communicator pen from his shirt pocket and uncapping it with his teeth.

"Open Channel D, please. Message for Mr. Waverly. We have an impending breach in the Garment District. Send someone to cover my position, and it may be a good idea to arrange some backup for us. Napoleon says it's a Class-F."

"And how did Mr. Solo aquire this information, Mr. Kuryakin? Reset on you, did he?" Waverly's voice, while businesslike, had a thread of humor running though it.

He didn't bother to dignify the question. "Kuryakin out, sir."

Illya was fighting his way through the perpetual traffic snarl around Columbus Circle when his implant beeped again, an incoming message from Napoleon. 

"Illya. Thought I'd give you a little warning this time." Napoleon was trying to sound casual, but his breath was hoarse and wet and rattling in a way that screamed 'punctured lung', and Illya felt his blood freeze.

"I thought you were going to wait for me, Napoleon!"

"Sorry. Try to be a little faster, would you? It's got tentacles. You know I hate that." His voice was fading out. The dashboard clock read 2:53 PM.

Another beep from the implant. "Reset in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1--" That high pitched whine, and--

 

\-- it was 2:37 on West 75th. Illya swore and hit the earpiece.

"Stop dying before I can get there!" he yelled at his partner.

"Get here faster then, IK," Napoleon replied testily, and hung up on him.

Fighting the usual deja vu, Illya screeched away from the curb and pulled out his communicator.

"Urgent message for Mr. Waverly, Class-F Breach imminent, 8th and 35th. Request immediate backup," and hung up before the Old Man could make any smart remarks this time around.

His partner was in trouble and he had half of Manhattan to cover in ten minutes, fifteen if he was lucky. He shifted into gear and hit the accelerator.

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in a universe originally thought up by my partner-in-crime Jake that we then brainstormed into crossing over with MfUNCLE (thx bb ;) )
> 
> In this universe, UNCLE's purview, as mentioned, also includes FIGHTING MONSTERS FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION (the 4th one), UNCLE HQ is located inside a submarine stranded in the 4th dimension that has entrances built into a tailor shop in New York City, and, to aid in the process of handling said monsters, certain agents have been fitted with a 'Reset device'.
> 
> Now, a quick word about the fourth dimension. Some people like saying it's Time, but that's sort of a poetic way of describing [relativistic spacetime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacetime), and I'm talking about [4 dimensions in space](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-dimensional_space). [that link has a lot unnecessary math for these purposes, but some nifty gifs :D]
> 
> The zero-eth (shh just go with it. it's true) dimension is just a point. The first dimension is a line, the second dimension is a plane/flat surface with no thickness, and the third dimension is the usual length/width/height we usually exist in, most of you probably already know this. Because we can't experience it, the 4th dimension is extremely mind-bendy, but it's not so bad if you think of it as another extension of the series. [Flatland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland#Plot) is a good place to start if you can handle the horrible Victorian politics*, but what I'm getting at is this:
> 
> [*Jake recommends [Sphereland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphereland), which is a fanfic of Flatland, as being considerably less upsetting on the same subject]
> 
> Imagine a stick figure person on a piece of paper. Their world is the flat, 2-dimensional world of the page; it doesn't matter that the paper itself has thickness, the stick figure person (SFP) can only experience the world as that flat 2D face of the page. Meanwhile, I, as a 3D human, can look down (another axis, another dimension!) at the page, and see that there's a little drawn heart in the SFP's chest. The SFP's friend, standing next to the SFP, can't see the SFP's heart, they can only see the side bounding line of the SFP's chest, their 'skin'. I, as a 3D being, with the benefit of an extra dimension to work in, can not only see the heart, but could effectively reach inside the SFP and pluck it out (without breaking any skin, even!). (sorry SFP :/ )
> 
> NOW IMAGINE THAT RAISED A DIMENSION. A 4D being could look at a 3D being and see their living guts, and maybe do more than look (eeeewwwwww). Flipping a right shoe in the 4th dimension turns it into a left shoe; flipping a human in the 4th dimension, because a lot of our molecules are "handed" in the way shoes and gloves tend to be, would result in some seriously gross death, I don't even know. 
> 
> ANYWAY--  
> THAT'S NOT _ACTUALLY_ IMPORTANT, BACK TO THE THING:
> 
> So UNCLE in this universe fights 4D monsters along with THRUSH*, and 4D monsters can kill you, as we have just established, in many nasty ways. UNCLE has countered this, as usual, with a gadget: an implant that can transmit a brain-state, as data, back to itself at some point in the past. So right as an agent dies, they can essentially hop back to a 'save point' and try again. There's also a kill switch, so an agent could theoretically do this at will.
> 
> [*who are probably worshiping them or something idk]
> 
> Napoleon & Illya are among the select few fitted with these implants, but are a special case-- their devices are linked. Their 'save points' are synced, and if one hops back so does the other. This means that they're always on the same timeline (aka are experiencing the same time loops), which is handy, but also means that if one dies, the other's killswitch activates and they both die. But then reality resets and no one remembers their death but them! Yay? :/
> 
> These devices are not conducive to sanity (though neither is fighting 4D monsters). Being linked to another person is probably better than single-player mode, but as it's literally binding two lives together, you probably have to like the other person kind of a lot ;)
> 
> [there is more fic than footnote, but only just. >__>]


End file.
